1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording material separating apparatus suitably used in the fixing apparatus of an image forming apparatus to separate a recording material from a rotary member.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a laser printer or a facsimile apparatus, there is known and practically used a recording material separating apparatus provided with a separating member disposed on the downstream side of a pair of rotary members rotated in pressure contact with each other with respect to the conveyance direction of a recording material so as to be capable of contacting with at least one of the rotary members and to separate the recording material after passed through the nip portion from the rotary member during the contact of the separating member with the rotary member, a biasing member for biasing the separating member toward the rotary member, and a guide member for guiding the recording material separated from the rotary member in the conveyance direction.
For example, as such a recording material separating apparatus, there is known a construction in which as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-333465, a guide member is provided near a separating claw which is a separating member. This guide member has the role of preventing a recording material from contacting with the separating claw when the stagnation of the recording material (hereinafter referred to as jam) occurs downstream of a fixing apparatus with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording material and the recording material becomes like bellows, and preventing a heating roller which is a rotary member from being injured by the separating claw.
In the above-described prior-art recording material separating apparatus, however, the tip end of the separating claw (the contact portion thereof with the heating roller) is slightly exposed from the guide member to separate the recording material from the heating roller. Accordingly, when jam occurs, it has been difficult to completely prevent the bellows-shaped recording material from contacting the separating claw. Particularly, when jam occurs to a recording material bearing thereon a toner image high in print percentage such as solid black, the bellows-shaped recording material may have been secured in a state in which it is finely folded by a toner, and have become liable to abut against the tip end of the separating claw and eat into the heating roller to thereby injure the roller. Also, when the heating roller is injured, a bad image such as uneven fixing may occur to the printed surface of a recording material conveyed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording material separating apparatus which does not injure the surface of a rotary member by a separating member.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording material separating apparatus of which the separating member is retractable from a separating position during jam.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a recording material separating apparatus comprising:
a rotary member contacting with a recording material;
a separating member for contacting with the rotary member and separating the recording material from the rotary member; and
a guide member for guiding that surface of the recording material separated from the rotary member which is adjacent to the rotary member, the guide member being provided for retraction from a guide position by the pressure of the recording material when jammed;
the separating member being retracted from a separating position in operative association with the retracting operation of the guide member.
Further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.